A Survey on the Prevalence and Risk Indicators of Dental Erosion among 13-15 Year Old Adolescents in Yangsan, Korea

It is a trend that carbonated drink intake among adolescents is increasing, which makes young people more vulnerable to dental erosion. However, in Korea, public knowledge about dental erosion is very insufficient. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of dental erosion and to assess its risk indicators among 1315 years old students in Yangsan, Korea. A total of 1,371 adolescents were examined by one calibrated clinician. Dental erosion was assessed by using the Visual Erosion Dental Examination system. Correlation between their dietary habit, oral hygiene and dental erosion was assessed. The data showed that 676 (49.3%) adolescents had dental erosion. The prevalence of dental erosion was significantly higher in females than in males. The prevalence of tooth erosion in mandible is higher than in maxilla. Dental erosion was generalized to develop mostly on anterior teeth, especially lateral incisor, however, the severity score was highest in canines. Following questionnaire analysis, dental erosion was significantly associated with milk and flavored milk. No other associations were detected. The prevalence of dental erosion in this study is higher than those of previous reports. On the contrary to previously reported studies, the prevalence of dental erosion in females is higher than in males.